Essie - Pretty Edgy

It's me again! 

Two blog posts in one week. I know.... right?! You must be wondering how this is possible. Firstly because I am forcing myself to take a break from my book series for a day. Not sure if I'll make it the whole day, but I'm trying. Also, it is snowing outside. I want to go to Victoria's Secret to utilize my gift card from Christmas during their semi-annual sale, and I'm hoping the snow will let up soon. I may end up going while it is snowing anyway. Snow can't keep me from new undies!

Today I'm sharing a not-so-new Essie polish with you. This polish was released in a collection in 2010. I've been wanting it since the first time I saw it on one of the nail blogs I read, but only recently got my paws on it. I found it at my local ULTA.

Click to Bigify. :)

This is Essie Pretty Edgy. SUCH a pretty blue-toned green. I point out the blue-ish tint because I want you to know which photo here is the most accurate. I had a very difficult time getting my camera to show this polish in its true form. The photo below would be the most accurate depiction of Pretty Edgy. The polka dots on the accent nail were done with OPI Goldeneye. 

Most accurate color

The photos show 2 coats of base coat, 2 coats of the color, and 1 coat of top coat. Of course I had to use 2 coats of base coat to protect myself from any unwanted staining. Gotta love those greens. The formula on this was perfect. Buttery smooth and, even with the tiny Essie brush, super easy to apply. No complaints about this polish. I'm so glad I finally own it! I will NEVER own enough green nail polish.

With flash

Here is a photo taken with the flash. It is the least color accurate, but I still wanted to share it.

I just love those cream polishes that look so perfectly smooth on my nails, and this is one of them. It didn't disappoint. I hope you like it too. :)

Thanks for dropping by!

--Dixie

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Essie - Miss Fancy Pants

Yo.

I have been feeling a bit lazy with my nails lately, so today's manicure is plain jane. Sometimes it's nice to have one solid, neutral color that's not overwhelming. I really enjoyed this one. 

Clicky Clicky

This is Essie Miss Fancy Pants. It is a lovely brownish taupe with a hint of something kinda purple or pink? Basically when you can't decide if it is brown or gray, you call it taupe. The photos have your typical base coat, two coats of color, and top coat. Lately I've been using Revlon's Quick Dry Top Coat. 

The formula on this color is just lovely. My only complaint it that Essie's nail polishes have a super tiny brush. Sometimes it can be difficult to work with, but as you can see in the photos, this one cooperated quite well. I think I got about 4 days out of this one before it chipped. Not too shabby since that is usually as long as I can handle going before changing my polish again. 

I don't have much else to say. This is an eye-catching neutral polish and I got as many compliments on it as I do my brighter manicures. If you can deal with the small Essie brush, I'd highly recommend it. :)

Thanks for taking a peek at my nails!

--Dixie

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Love & Beauty - "Greys"

Good evening!

It has been a long 14 days since my last post. In that post 14 days ago, I mentioned that I had been enthralled in a book. That is still true, except it is a different book now. TOO MANY HOBBIES! 

Anyway, below are some fantastical photos of a couple of nail polishes that my friend Maryana gave me. These polishes are from Forever 21, and both of them are labeled as "Grey". 

Click to enlarge!

Is that darker grey not gorgeous?! It has a golden/greenish shimmer to it that is really eye-catching. I love it. And Forever 21 polishes are so cheap! The labels on these bottles say $2.80, but every time I go in that store they are on sale for even cheaper. 

Click to enlarge!

So this particular post seems like a great opportunity to mention that I prefer to spell the word "GRAY" with an *A* and not an *E*. I've used the E up to this point because that is how it is spelled on the label on the bottles, but I felt the need to clarify that I am an A kind of girl.  I'm aware that it is technically correct either way, but I just get all irritable when I see it spelled with an E. 

Click to enlarge!

The formula on these polishes is great. I had no issues at all with the application. What you see in all the photos is two coats of each color, also with a base coat and top coat. I also used Essie's Luxeffects - Set In Stones to add a little bit of sparkle to my accent nail. 

Click to biggify!

Click to enlarge!

It is practically impossible to detect on the nail, but the lighter gray polish has a slight shimmer in it as well. It is a silvery shimmer in the bottle, which I tried to show in the photo above. 

Well, I think I covered all the basic important stuff. My job is done here. :)

--Dixie

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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

HAPPY MONDAY! 

I have some good news for one lucky person today! My nail polish giveaway ended last night while I was asleep, and I'm just now getting the opportunity to announce the winner. 

Essie Poppy-Razi Collection

Congratulations, Mass Deaf (A.K.A. Timothy)! That's right ladies... the ONLY male that entered my giveaway managed to win. The odds were apparently in his favor. He plans to make sure the polishes get used to their full potential by kindly gifting them to his girlfriend. 

Proof that I didn't make it up!

Rafflecopter selected the winner randomly, so I hope there are no hard feelings!

Also, I thought I'd throw in the fun little fact that the terms and conditions at the bottom of the giveaway stated "By entering this giveaway, you are agreeing to be my personal slave until the rest of forever. I can also keep the nail polish in this giveaway and mail you paper towels instead." I don't suppose I'll hold you all to this, but I sure didn't want to let it go unknown. ;)

Hope you have a great evening! I'll be working on other posts after this so you'll have something more interesting to read soon. 

--Dixie

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Grapefruit Nail Art

Get your sunglasses ready... I may have played with some bright colors!

I decided to do citrus-y type nail art and was pretty impressed with how it turned out. It's far from perfect, but you can tell what it is supposed to be, right? :)

All photos are clickable to enlarge!

The pretty neon green is China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard. This is from their Summer Neons 2012 Collection. I saw this color swatched on other blogs and definitely had to have it. I LOVE green.

Here's the grapefruit (or orange) on my right hand. Which means I painted it with my left hand. It's not terribly intricate stuff, but I'm still really amazed by my artistic abilities. ;)

For the nail art, I just used a very fine-tipped art brush. I blobbed out each color onto a sheet of foil as I needed it. 

Macro Shot!

The formula of China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard is lovely. The first coat can be a little streaky or bald, but it only takes two coats to get full opacity. You don't need "underwear" to make it as bright as it is in these photos. That's the annoying thing about a lot of neons, but none of these need a base of white.

All of the pretty colors I used

From left to right: OPI - MonSooner or Later, Essie - Lights, Wet N Wild Wild Shine - Sunny Side Up,  China Glaze - Sun-Kissed, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard, Essie Luxeffects - Shine of the Times.

Thanks for taking a peek at my nails. Hope your eyes re-adjust quickly. ;)

Also... DON'T FORGET to check out my giveaway! It ends this Sunday at midnight!

--Dixie

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Essie Nail Polish Giveaway!

Happy Monday! ( I know, grumble grumble, I hate Mondays, grumble)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a surprise for you!

I stumbled upon a small collection of polishes that Essie released sometime between Spring and Summer this year. Poppy-Razzi is a collection of four very pretty neon pink and orange shades. When I purchased them I immediately wanted to share them with everyone!

I decided to do a giveaway to celebrate the fact that I've kept at my blog for as long as I have. There have definitely been moments when I thought I might not continue posting, but then I get compliments and/or new followers and that motivates me to keep going. I also got hundreds of hits on my blog recently because of the OKC Thunder fingernail art I created. Apparently if you google "OKC Thunder Fingernails", my blog is the first result. Makes me feel kinda famous...? :-P Okay, now I'm rambling...

First I'll be posting photos of the polishes I'm giving away, as well as swatches of the polishes so you know what you're entering to win. There will be a BUNCH of pictures. Keep reading to get the details about the giveaway!

Essie's Poppy-Razzi Collection: Lights, Camera, Action, Bazooka

Better shot of the colors

All of the polishes above would be what I consider neons. They're not neon like highlighter green neon, but they are quite bright and eye-catching. Lights tends to lean more cream/jelly, while the other three colors are definitely jellies. They all dry to a satin/matte finish, so they all require a top coat to make them as shiny as they are in my photos.

Essie - Lights

Lights is the first polish in the collection. As I mentioned above, it is a cream/jelly. It has a good formula that applies easily, and what you see in the photos above is two coats of Lights with one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti Chip Top Coat. 

I'm not gonna lie. I am NOT a fan of pink. You won't see me wear pink nail polish very often at all. I'm just not drawn to it. And I honestly only purchased this one because I liked the other 3 colors so much, so I thought what the heck? However, once I had it on my nails, how could I not like it? Look at how pretty it is! I could see this on my toes, too. :) Anyway, moving on.

Essie - Camera

Camera was difficult to photograph. Actually, so were the next two polishes as well. It could be because they are jellies, it could be my lighting, it could be my camera... maybe all of the above. But I would describe this color as more of a coral reddish pink than it appears in the photos. The color you see in the bottles is closer to the true color. Whatever the case, it is a very pretty shade that turned out to be my favorite from the collection.

It didn't apply quite as smoothly as Lights, but it wasn't a total pain either. The photos above are two coats of Camera with one coat of the same top coat.

Essie - Action

Ugh!! I wanted SO bad for Action to be awesome. It is such a pretty tangerine shade. It looks kinda awesome in the photos, but the formula of the bottle I purchased for myself is horrible. I'm not sure if it is just my bottle, or if all of them are like this. I can't imagine that Essie would release such a bad bottle of polish on purpose. Right?

Anyway, when I went to apply the first coat, I was wiping the brush on the neck of the bottle and I noticed that the polish looked like a very clearish orange color with milky-looking streaks running through it. I thought, "this can't be right!" So I shook it vigorously for a few minutes, but with no luck.  :( The polish didn't change at all. 

I decided to go ahead and paint it on anyway, hoping that it might turn out better than it was looking inside the bottle. The first coat was stupid. Streaky and gross. Nevertheless, I continued with the second coat, and it DID improve a little. Finally, with the third and final coat, it looked like the decent polish that you see in the pictures above. So the photos above are 3 coats of Action with one coat of top coat. I wore this polish for a day or two, and it didn't last as long as the others did. Sorry I didn't have a lot of good things to say about this one.

Essie - Bazooka

Bazooka is the last polish of this collection, and thank GOODNESS I only have nice things to say about this one! This polish was nice and pretty after two coats and the formula was just fine. It is a pretty shade of dark orange that leans to red. I think that is all I really have to say about this one, after all the bad things I said about the previous one!

Now that you've seen all the pretty polishes, be sure to enter the giveaway below to win your own brand new, unused bottles of the same colors. :)

Rules of Giveaway


This giveaway will end at 12:01 am (EST) on Monday, July 23rd 2012.
It is open to U.S. Residents only. Sorry to anyone this excludes. :( I'm just not quite sure what it requires to mail nail polish to other countries and I don't want to promise anything I can't deliver. I promise I'll work on that.



How to Enter

All you have to do to enter is fill out the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post. There are a total of 4 possible entries to be earned. The first two fields are mandatory and for filling them out, you will receive two entries. The other two are optional and will each earn you +1 entry, but obviously the more entries you have, the higher your chance of winning.

In case you are unfamiliar with the process of following a blog via Google Friend Connect, it is really quite simple. You just have to have an account with Google. (There are other ways to follow besides with a Google account, too) If you have a gmail account, BAM! You're already there. If not, it's pretty simple to create an account. Then click on the little blue button on the right side of this page that says "Join this site". It will likely prompt you to log in. Then you just select to "follow publicly".

Thank you and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Revlon - Bare Bones & Essie - Mademoiselle

Hellooooooo!

Today I have a classic manicure for you. I borrowed this idea from one of my favorite nail blogs, LetThemHavePolish.com. It includes Bare Bones from Revlon's Colorstay line, and Essie's Mademoiselle. The only difference is that I used Bare Bones and she used Essie's Brooch the Subject. The colors are VERY similar as far as this manicure is concerned.

Revlon - Bare Bones without flash.

As you can see above, Bare Bones is a tan color. It is very pretty by itself, but I REALLY wanted to see how adding Essie's Mademoiselle would transform it.

Revlon - Bare Bones with flash.

Bare Bones applies just like the rest of the polishes I have used from this line, HOWEVER, it seemed to take quite a while to dry. I'm not sure if that is because of the way I applied it, or if its the formula. I will definitely use this color again, so I'll pay attention as to whether or not it dries as slowly. The photos above are 2 coats.

Topped with Essie - Mademoiselle without flash.

And here it is covered in 2 coats of Essie - Mademoiselle. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Mademoiselle on my nails by itself, but it is a sheer pink jelly. The idea of layering these two polishes was to create a nude color with a little something extra. After adding Mademoiselle, the tan color transformed into more of a pink-ish nude. And doesn't it just look so squishy?! I really love it.

Macro shot of finished product.

Different shot of the finished product without flash.

I got a lot of compliments on this manicure and I definitely plan to do it again. I'd also love to wear Mademoiselle by itself, and when I do, I'll be sure to share it with you.

Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them bigger! :)

Thanks for hanging out!

--Dixie

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Revlon - Bold Sangria & Essie Luxeffects Pure Pearlfection

Happy Tuesday!!

(I'll give you a minute or two while your eyes adjust to my new layout.)

Today I have a manicure I did a while back, but I really wanted to share it because it involves one of my current favorite lines of nail polish... Revlon Colorstay.

As usual, all photos are clickable to enlarge.

Without flash.

It is very difficult to see from this photograph, but Bold Sangria is a deep plum color. At least that is how I would describe it. My husband tells me I'm colorblind. Anyway... moving on. :)

Without flash.

To make things a little less boring, I added a simple accent nail with Pure Pearlfection from Essie's Luxeffects collection. I thought about doing it on all of my nails, but Bold Sangria is so yummy by itself I couldn't bring myself to do it. :D

With flash.

In this photo taken with the flash you can get a better idea of the color of this polish. Wouldn't you say plum-ish?

And similarly to the other polishes from this collection, I would describe this as a creamy jelly. It's super shiny, with a little help from the Seche Vite top coat. It applied like a dream in two coats, and lasted for about 4-5 days before it started to fall apart.

Macro shot of accent nail.

Macro shot.

It was a little difficult for me to get a good macro shot of this color, but I did my best. I hope you enjoy this color as much as I did, although this seems to be a little out of season now.

Thanks for gawking at my nails!

--Dixie

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OKC Thunder Fingernails: China Glaze - Splish Splash & Orange You Hot?

Hello Thunder Fans (and everyone else)!

After posting my last "OKC Thunder Fingernails" manicure, I stumbled upon several other far superior versions of Thunder manicures. I felt a little silly for calling my plain blue fingernails a themed manicure, so I'm back again with some improvements. 

My best rendition of the basketball in the Tunder's logo

I started by applying 2 coats of China Glaze's Orange You Hot? to my thumbnail. After that was dry, I used a smaller brush to paint the blue portion (China Glaze's Splish Splash) you see in the photo above. I then used a fine-tipped nail art brush I purchased from Sally's Beauty Supply to draw the black lines of the basketball and then outlined it in white to mimic the logo as much as I could. It's not perfect, but I think I did pretty good for my first try at free-hand nail art.

Other thumb

The black lines were done with Pure Ice - Black Rage, and the white outline was done in Finger Paints - Paper Mache.

China Glaze Splish Spash & Orange You Hot? from the Summer Neons 2012 Collection

Here's a shot of the rest of my hand. I did an accent nail in orange with three different colors of polka dots using my dotting tool (also purchased from Sally's).

Other accent nail

 The dark color is Essie - Midnight Cami. It is actually a dark blue, but it always looks black. The middle color is Splish Splash. And the last color is Pure Ice - Silver Mercedes.

After letting things dry as long as I could stand it, I topped everything off with Sally Hansen's Inta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat. Tada!

Also: The Thunder won again! :) :)

Thanks for stopping by...

--Dixie

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